How great was it to see two Aussies on the podium at Sunset, proudly holding their Hurley Pro trophies aloft as the magnificent Hawaiian season reached its climax!
It’s a bit early in the season to be making rash predictions, but under the old first past the post system, I’d be putting good money on Molly Picklum to become the 2024 world champion, but of course, under the World Surf League rules all you can do is make top five and hope for the best at September’s crap shoot at Lower Trestles. Still, with a second at Pipe and a first at Sunset, Molly is into the yellow jersey and off to a flyer.
Jack Robinson also found outstanding form at Sunset after faltering at Pipe, putting him at number two in the rankings and sniffing down John John’s neck as the tour heads to Portugal. We’ll come back to rankings and their ramifications in a moment, but first let’s unpack the performances of the Aussies at Sunset.
Pickles’ perfect 10 at Pipe was a moment for the ages, even though she couldn’t back it up in the final, but at Sunset she surfed with power, style and confidence throughout, and then air-dropped out of a bomb in the final, and that was all she wrote for Hawaii’s great hope, Betty Lou Sakura Johnson. It was a near-flawless exhibition by the 21-year-old from the NSW Central Coast, but three years her junior, Betty Lou is going to be right there with her and Caity Simmers in finals to come, particularly in Hawaii.
Of the other Aussie girls, only Isabella Nichols impressed, as she had without luck at Pipe. At Sunset for her fifth place she looked confident and at home on a difficult playing field. The Sunny Coaster is a smart operator with a load of talent, and she’s now inside the mid-season cut.
The veteran Sally Fitzgibbons did her smiley Sally thing without luck and now sits just outside the cut alongside Tyler Wright, of whom we have to ask, have we seen her best? Tyler still has plenty of power and won’t pull back, but you’d have to wonder about her focus.
Jack Robinson was disappointing at Pipeline where so much was expected of him, but he knew exactly what he needed to do at Sunset on finals day in clean, growing conditions. He started the day by taking out Italo Ferreira with a near-perfect 9.77, then saw off team-mate Ryan Callinan in the semis and demolished Kanoa Igarashi in the final with some of the most extraordinary surfing ever seen at Sunset, the high point being his threading of two barrels as a quirky wave humped across the inside reef, this time for a 9.87.
Of the other Aussies, I was particularly impressed by the backside attack of Ryan Callinan and, to a lesser extent, Connor O’Leary (now representing Japan). But, as mentioned last week, the draw did our guys no favours, with Liam O’Brien knocking out Ethan Ewing and RyCal taking out Connor in back to back heats in the round of 16. Straddie’s Ewing, frequently mentioned in world title conversations, looked out of sorts, his timing frequently just off a shade. Hopefully it’s a momentary aberration.
So where does that leave us going into Portugal and then the home season at Bells and Margaret River? Well, in the girls it’s all about Molly, and in current form she’d be hard to beat at Supertubos, Bells or Margaret River, if there’s size, and just one of those wins would consolidate her as top five. Bella Nichols is worth keeping an eye on too. She gets better every event.
In the men’s, it’s all about Jack, and he just looks the goods. Connor O’Leary would be our next highest at five, if he hadn’t turned Japanese, and at seventh we have Ethan Ewing and Liam O’Brien. I’d back Liam over Ethan right now, but these Queenslanders are both brilliant surfers, and that could easily turn around. It’s highly unlikely that we’d see three Aussies in the final five, but they’d be mine.
Team for El Salvador longboard
El Salvador is the new home of world longboarding, with both the ISA and WSL conducting world titles at the right point break of El Sunzal in the coming months.
Last week Surfing Australia announced its Irukandji Longboard team for next month’s championships, with last year’s Australian champions Noosa’s Kirra Molnar and Bokarina’s Clinton Guest (born in Noosa) first picks. Joining them will be NSW wildcards Tully White and Declan Wyton.
Said Kirra: “As always, I’m very excited to be representing my country, especially in a sport that is normally very individual. Coming together as a team and supporting each other truly shows the Aussie spirit. I’m looking forward to surfing this wave again as it changes so much in size and shape every day.”
The WSL also announced its longboard tour schedule last week, with events scheduled for Bells Beach and Huntington Beach, California, with one venue to be announced ahead of a finals series at El Sunzal, El Salvador in October. It’s ironic that El Sunzal replaces Malibu as the finals venue, since 45 years ago it stood in for the ‘Bu in the shooting of cult classic movie Big Wednesday, long before it was known as “Surf City”.
FOOTNOTE: Speaking of Big Wednesday, in last week’s print edition of Noosa Today, the ticketing link got lost for the Noosa Surf Museum presentation of Big Wednesday, with special guests and world champs Peter “PT” Townend and Tom Carroll. Tickets are selling fast so don’t delay. Visit: events.humanitix.com/big-wednesday-x-immortals-launch
